The Intruder (English Version)
by unviewer
Summary: Foyet VS Hotch, After back from the pig farm of Canada,each BAU member went back home with a heavy heart,but the day was not ended for Agent Hotchner, the evil at home and hit. What has exactly happened, what was sinister game played by the evil
1. Chapter 1

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

Back from Hell, Evil at Home

I don't own any "Criminal Minds" character, just inspired by the show.

English is not my native language, maybe a lot of mistakes of spelling and grammar.

Rating: T (angst/crime), no pairing

Foyet VS Hotch

_Men are strong so long as they represent a strong idea they become powerless when they oppose it.__－__Sigmund Freud_

Without too many difficulties, he opened the door of the apartment. He looked around with the flash, the apartment was not big, and it looked like obviously a typical workaholic bachelor's home. But it was clean, with less stuff, everything was in order. He studied careful the apartment, then he chose his location, and sit down, waited. Like a good hunter, his arm was ready, with a lot of patience; he was waiting, waiting for his prey to come back home, his prey' s own home. That would be a big surprise.

He was sitting in the dark, and really enjoyed the company of the darkness, let the tender darkness surrounded, he always felt safe and peaceful. And he was waiting for his prey, he could hear his own heart beating, he felt the hunger for blood, the anxiousness, he had for that moment, the moment he waited and planned since so long time, the moment he rehearsed so many times in his mind.

He remembered very clearly the first time he met with his prey 10 years ago. A tall, dark hair, dark eyes, handsome but very serious looking man with perfect dressed dark color suit, came to the hospital with the local police. When he started to talk, it was interesting, he could easily recognize the familiar tone of a lawyer, but, his prey had something more than that, he talked with a low, soft voice, but in that low, soft voice, there was a sort of determined tone of authority, a power of domination which attempted to overwhelm his counterpart.

Obviously his psychological age was much more older than his physical age. Even with concern and sympathy, that dark shinning eyes, with the sharp and deep glances, tried to look into your heart, read your mind.

From that serious smart face, he found the obvious trace of arrogance and ambition. His prey had something special, the very well built body, the noble and elegant body languages, but these were only his attractive external appearance, he wanted to see more and to know more about this dark hair and dark eyes man, he had an impulse desire to break down that serious brave looking shell to see his inside.

That's the fate, the fate of both of them. The fate brought him that dark hair and dark eyes man which he supposed never met again. 10 years, both of them became older, but he recognized immediately that serious, arrogant face, that face became even more serious with sort of concern or sadness.

At that moment, he felt again the desire to destroy that perfect, solid appearance, to defeat him and to see the vulnerability showed by the strongest prey. His prey was chosen by the fate especially for him as his challenge and reward.

He held his breath, and waiting, waiting for the footstep of his prey, waiting his prey approach, came back to his niche.

Page 2 of 2 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	2. Chapter 2

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

" Come on, Prentiss, I need a cup." Morgan put his go bag on his shoulder, in front of the elevator, he insisted.

"I don't think I need that now. Oh, God, all I need now is a good shower." Prentiss put her vest on," God, I can still smell the pigs. Why don't you ask Reid to go with you?"

' Me? No thanks, all I need is to sleep."

"Ok, okay, I will go in solo, because I really need a cup to end the day. And I'll see you guys tomorrow. Good night."

"Yeah, if we still can have one." Reid said.

"What do you mean?" Morgan asked,

"I mean nothing, nothing besides... besides the pigs. We just finished a day in hell, now you think we can immediately erase the images and have some sweet dream in the night? What you have been physically and psychologically involved will affect you for a while, not mention we just came back from there, like Prentiss said, me too, I can still smell the pigs. All that will have some reflection in our dream." Reid said.

" You know that's exactly why I need that drink, Are you sure you don't want to go with me?"

" No, I pass. I was drug addicted. I will go home like a good boy for some sleep, hope the pigs will not chase me in my dream."

"Okay. Boys, I will see you tomorrow." Prentiss left first.

When JJ'S home, Will was sitting on the coach, sleeping in front of the TV. He woke up when JJ entered.

" Hi! Honey, you are home", he held her in his arms, gave her a kiss.

" How was it? Bad?" JJ felt warm in her husband's arms,

"The worst, please, I don't want to talk now, Henry's sleeping? I need to see him, oh God, Will, you can not imagine."

"Sweetie, forget it, you are home now, let's check on Henry"

Hold Henry in her arms, JJ'S blue eyes suddenly filled with tears, " Hi! What is it? Honey."

" It's nothing, just, just I wonder why there is so much darkness in this world, when our baby is sleeping in peace like an angel, he can not imagine the evil exist in the same world with him."

" That's why you do your job, and so do the other LEOS, we have to fight the evil and to be the guard angel of our babies. Come on, and I am with you, you know, always, to be our son's guard angel."

" Kevin, Kevin, wake up and pick up." Gacia called desperately, she wanted to see Kevin, and even it was really late.

"Hello." the sleepy voice of Kevin from another side of the line.

" Kevin, I need you here, now!"

"Hi. Honey, you miss me so badly, it's just three days..."

" Shut up Kevin, just, just come." "

What's going on, are you all right?" Kevin totally woke up this time, and terrified by the tone of Gacia.

" Please, Kevin, come to my place, I need you, please!"

" Yes, Madame, I'm coming, I'm on my way." Gacia had a sigh of relief. She did not want to stay alone tonight. She thought that she would become a vegetarian from that night never eat pork again.

Rossi filled the cup; the aroma of the Scotch could not erase the smell he kept in his brain. More than 30 years, dozen hundreds cases, some worse, horrible, some less heavy, he could not tell which one was the worst.

How could you distinguish the darkness from the darkness?

He put back the cup on the small bar, and felt extremely tired, " You are an old man, Agent Rossi." He said to himself.

Eventually, he did not touch the Scotch, he found himself a pill, swallowed it with a cup of water, and lied down on bed.

"What a hell! It would be great to end up the day with a good sleep without nightmare." he thought before he felt in sleep.

Page 4 of 4 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	3. Chapter 3

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

The big moment was coming. He heard his prey's footsteps, imagined how he opened the door, dropped his key, his briefcase and at last, his gun.

He heard his prey to pour himself a drink; he probably had a very tough day, he thought, so hunger for a drink to seek comfort. But Agent, your day is not ended yet, he smiled. And then he stepped out from the darkness.

The mask on his face; gun in hand, aiming his prey's head.

His prey first felt his presence, then he stopped his drinking, he did not move during several seconds, and then slowly, he turned around.

Still that serious, motionless face, the dark eyes shinning, no fear, stared at him, not even a blink. His prey ignored the existence of the gun, the tall, well built body stood there straight, unmoved like a statue.

The reaction of his prey was not a surprise for him, but he was quite disappointed. He needed another action to reinforce the impression of his show out.

"You should take the deal!"

"Bang", He fired, just before his prey made his first and last try, to attempt to jump on him. That was predictable. He never thought his prey would willing be hunted without a fight.

The bullet hit Hotch on his left should, like a hot iron, sent him on the ground, he felt his left arm and even half body had been paralyzed. He still tried to get up, but failed.

He approached his prey, the mask of the evil has been removed, he gave his prey his own brand of smile, and a smile only the conqueror could show. " Nice try."

Hotch tried to adjust his breath from the unbearable pain, stared disdainfully at his attacker,

With a still calm voice, he said, "So that's what you can do, hiding in the dark, attacked people first to restrain their move? And you missed it, in such short distance, what a shame, don't tell me your hands are shaking?"

He took another deep breath, and continued, " you want to try again, and my hands never shake, even now? Don't you see that?"

Foyet placed one foot with force on Hotch's bleeding shoulder, the agony made Hotch to groan.

" Yes, I see, Agent Hotchner, of course, you are a hero. A hero's hands never shake, a hero never shows his fear, a hero never scream of pain, and a hero always believes he is invincible. But you should also know that even a super-hero has his Achilles' heel, can not win all the battles, it is just another turn."

He was still smiling, on enjoying the painful expression that his prey could barely hide on his face. He took out a knife, showed it to his prey as he held a trophy.

" If you studied well my behavior, you should know that my hands never shaken neither, and I never missed, through so many years. I just don't like that a great show, a show of duo, just you and me, ended up too quickly, you should know the most entertaining part is the whole process, not the end. And I would like to try again, but with this one," he shook the knife," I would like to have more fun with you and I will give you more opportunity to enjoy the process with me. And by doing like that, you will have more time to show me your heroic"

He stabbed the knife into the agent's abdomen," Now, Agent Hothner, are you enjoying?" and the first stab was followed quickly by the second one.

Hotch's body throbbed with the stabs. A moan escaped from Hotch's lip.

" Don't be shy, tell me how you feel, Agent Hotchner." He pulled very slowly the knife out of the flesh. " This is a super designed piece, you see, each saw tooth of the blade facilitates the job, and will maximize your sensation."

The third stab was slowly just to let his prey to feel the effect that the knife could cause.

He whispered beneath his prey's ear,

"Now, you want to listen my profile, Agent Hotchner. What made you today? Born in a wealthy family, the elder son of a famous, successful, workaholic layer and a mother came from a big, rich, south traditional family, the high expectation of the parents was a heavy burden to carry, isn't it? Agent Hotchner."

"At fact, you did try your best to be as successful as you father, to be better than your father, and finally you got bored. You choose to abandon the way of money, to abandon the life of privilege to serve."

"You thought that made you different with your father, better than him. Refused to defend the strong, powerful guilty ones, and protect the so-called innocent and weak ones, pursuit of the fairness, pursuit of the justice. Did you feel successful and accomplished now? It seems not likely. Your career is stagnant because you are not as good as a profiler as a politician, the office politic is not your thing."

"Your idealism doesn't fit. It seems impossible for you to climb the ladder. What a waste! How about your family? The woman you loved, and you still love, left you because of your workaholic, your obsession with your job. And at that point, you are just like your father, that's the genetic heritage. Maybe something you don't know, and I would like to share with you, the woman you love, your ex-wife is seeing someone else, she's moving on, will never come back to you. How about your son? I think he will forget his father which he barely see every week very soon."

He made another stab. "It's hurt, isn't it? Agent Hotchner. The reality even hurt more than the knife. Am I right? Now, stay focus, we are not done yet. You know, the stab is a skill, need more practice, obviously, stab in is much more easier than pull the knife out, pull it out need more force, and your sensation is different too. If you do it very slowly, the 'out' is much better than the 'in'. Do you feel that?"

His prey's dark eyes are losing focus.

Very slowly, he added another stab, and then more slowly, he pulled out.

"Try again, and you feel that. Agent Hotch, I think your major flaw is not to use to share; you should share more with the others, share you're feeling. "

He stabbed him again, " you used to wear your serious mask with that perfect dark suit everyday like your solid shell to create the distance, people can hardly read your inside through that shell outside. You will see, the shell looks like solid, but the strong shell could be more fragile, and one time you damage it, break it, it is impossible to repair it. Even you can repair it from outside, but it never be the same, especially the inside not like the outside, the damage inside can never be recovered, you will see."

When Foyet slowly pulled out the knife from Hotch's abdomen, Hotch felt that his energy and his flesh had been also pulled out with the knife from his body. Used his last energy, he spoke,

" You, you can kill me...that's easy... You... you are just a coward behind that ugly mask, hiding in the dark, attacked people...ah..." Hotch was interrupted by another stab.

" Yes, you are right, Agent Hotchner, I am a coward, that's why I asked for a deal, but finally I found much more fun with your non deal attitude. You offered me more entertainment than anyone else. "

He tapped the agent's cheek, "and now you must be stronger and last longer than the others, not pass out so quickly by the pain,"

" I don't understand why profilers always consider the sex as the root of all sins, How could you guys don't understand power and conquest are pursued generation by generation by the human being. I don't think you are an exceptional, Agent Hotchner, you do like them right?"

" Your ambition determined for the achievement till the top of power pyramid, that's why you are so obsessed by the chase."

" You know, you are a remarkable person, Agent Hotchner, you asked me if I remembered you when we met second time in Boston, at fact I did remember you, I was impressed by your presence since the first time we met. The first time I met you, I figured out immediately your ambition from your face. What do you want more to pursue besides so called Fairness and Justice? That's power you want. What do you want to be? A good hunter with eagle eyes? A super-hero of free world?" he made another stab.

"A super-hero should be able to endure more pain than an ordinary man, you are a hero, Agent Hotchner, so stay awake, let's see how endurable you are compared to an ordinary man. As you know, 27 stabs, that's my record." He stabbed once again which sent Hotch into the deep darkness.

Page 5 of 5 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	4. Chapter 4

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

Morgan took from the bartender the Whisky, suddenly he lost the mood, and he did not want to drink it anymore. He felt a sort of anxiety and frustration rising from the bottom of his heart, he just turned the cup around in his hands, on looking at the liquid in the cup, and he felt someone's watching.

A dark skin pretty girl in her thirties was sitting on the other side and observing him. When he looked her back, she returned his glance with a quite attractive smile. And then, she approached,

" Hi! I'm Patricia, you drink alone? Would you mind I joint you for a drink?"

In the normal days, Morgan would have the mood, but not tonight,

" Listen, Sweetheart, let me buy you a drink, but you just drink it alone, okay?"

" Wow, what's happened to you? You really have a bad mood, don't you?"

" Just, just please, leave me alone, okay?"

" Okay, okay, as you wish." The girl left quickly.

Morgan thought a cup would help him to calm down his nerve, but it seemed even the Whisky could not help much. He sighed; finally left that cup untouched, dropped the money on the bar, and went out of the bar. He was sitting in his car for a moment, and suddenly his cell rang.

Morgan picked up his cell, it's Hotch, '"what a hell? Call this time for what?" he thought, ' Yeah Hotch, What's up?"

"Agent Morgan," the familiar voice made Morgan frozen, he already recognized the evil voice, but he still asked "Who is it?"

" I found your credential, Agent Morgan, you should feel grateful, and I thought you wanted it back very badly last time when we met."

"Foyet? What do you?" he stopped, looked at his cell screen, Hotch's name on it, he felt his heart pumping.

" I found your credential and I just want to return it to its holder, you should appreciate, but I think it's better to leave it to your boss, he can hand it to you personally."

"What did you..." Morgan stopped," If you hurt him, you die."

"We all die soon or later, Agent Morgan, just, you can not predicate it, you can not control it, and sometimes you have to leave the control power of death or live to the others which are obviously stronger than you."

"You son of BCH, you are dead man walking."

" Calm down, Agent Morgan. If you want your boss can handle your credential to you alive, you'd better be hurry, because, from an expertise's point of view, I don't think he would be hanging there for too long." The cell phone switched off.

"Omnivore, pigs are omnivore, they eat everything, and everything I mean everything. " Reid heard himself talking. Then, he saw the dozen huge, dirty, ugly pigs, crowded, yelling, even their glance like evil look.

A shoe was dug out from the dirt by the pigs, and the blood on the shoe. Then, suddenly, the pig's face transformed into George Foyet's, the Reaper's face. "Omnivore, the reaper is an omnivore." Hotch's face and voice appeared, then Foyet smiled, with his own blood at his lips, looked like he was flattered, and the pigs yelled loudly as they also cheered up by this omnivore idea.

Reid suddenly woke up; he has fallen in sleep on the coach with the dress. His phone was ringing.

Rossi did not answer, Morgan tried Reid, finally Reid answered with obvious sleepy voice,

" Reid, the reaper, he's coming back, he's hunting Hotch, call the others, I will see you all at Hotch's place."

Foyet dropped the cell and the bloody knife on the unconscious agent's body. He looked around, a gift box beneath the television caught his eyes, a gift, interesting, for who?

Reid was driving, his super brilliant brain now was like projector, re-passed all the images of his dream one by one, the pigs, the omnivore theory, Foyet's face.

Is it the so called the 6 sense? He remembered he said to Hotch that he had a feeling the case could not be ended well. He thought it was his 6 senses for the pig farm crime, he never imagined the appearance of the Omnivore, and the Reaper had some link with this.

He accelerated, faster and faster, it was the first time in his life he drove so madly. His cell rang, he looked at his cell, and it was Rossi,

" Yeah, Rossi, the..." he suddenly realized that another car was in the same lane, just meters in front of his SUV, he turned to the right, the car only one inch closed, passed, he took a deep breath, swept, but a shock came from just behind, hit the right side of his SUV. He felt a sharp pain from his right leg.

A car waiting in dark on the corner, he was watching the dark skin Agent parked his SUV, rushed into the building, he smiled, thought the agent was quite efficient, and then he dialed ,

"911, what's your emergency?"

"I think I heard a gunshot, my neighbor is a FBI agent, I heard arguing in my neighbor's apartment, then there's a loud sound like a gunshot, I think you'd better to send the police offer to check out."

The door was half open, his gun in his hands, he tried to control his breath, but he could still hear his heavy breath and his heart batting. The room was dark, he slowly moved with the flash, he looked around the apartment, a blood trace from the dinning room to the bed room, he followed the blood trace, went to the bed room, Hotch, unconscious, lied on his back in his own blood pool, his right hand was holding Morgan's credential.

Morgan bent down, he touched Hotch's neck, tried to find a pulse, and he felt relief when he found a very weak one. "Hotch? Hotch?" No answer. Morgan heard the siren from far, and then, the door was kicked big open, "Police, drop your weapon!"

"Chaos, nothing would be better than adding some chaos after you gave your adversary a heavy attack, you add more frustration and you buy yourself more time. "

"That is a piece of work, I think Agent Hotch would agree. That's genius' work, and now enjoy it agents!" he admired from far the show he directed, smiled, taste the satisfaction. Then he turned his car and left.

Page 5 of 5 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	5. Chapter 5

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

Roy woke up, he was waken up by something strange, but he could not tell. It was still dark, should be 4 to 5 o'clock in the morning.

"Hi, Roy, did you sleep well, have a good dream." A man's voice from the dark, then he saw the face covered by the familiar creepy mask on top of him, was looking down him. Roy completely woke up, eyes wide opened, he felt chilled.

"F...Foyet."

" That's right, missed me? Why did you move from Boston to DC, Roy? Boston is a nice place, it's our city, it made both of us famous."

" What... what do you want?" Roy could not hide the fear in his voice, at fact, he was shaking.

"Get up, it's time to work." he pulled him up from the bed through the collar of his night shirt,

"Sit down," the laptop of Roy was turned on, there was a horrible picture appeared on the screen.

"I bring you some exclusive, break news which can make you and me both famous."

On the screen, Roy recognized the man who lied down lifeless in a pool of blood, the front of his white shirt fully covered by the blood, it was Hotch.

"Recognize him?"

"Agent Hotchner? Is..is he dead?" Roy could not stop shaking.

" Not yet, I think rather be defeat and broken. Here, I put a very impressive title for you:' The Reaper is back! Senior FBI Agent, Unit Chief, was attacked at his home.' I can insure you that would be entered into the Top Ten news of the year, don't you think? Now you should start working, and this time you make it right."

"Sure, sure, whatever you want." Roy started with his shaking hands. Only about 20 minutes, Roy has done. Foyet bent down, and read on the laptop screen,

"Very well, Roy, great job, a very great job." He turned to the back of Roy,

" And now, you are done." He cut off Roy's throat with the knife he used to cut Hotch.

He let Roy's body fell on the ground,

" And Now, I will finish the last paragraph for you, Roy." he taped on the laptop," After finished writing this shock news, the Reporter, also the writer of" The Night of the Reaper" has been killed also at his home by the hero of his book: "the Reaper." He pressed on the "Send".

Page 2 of 2 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	6. Chapter 6

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

Jack was in the small garden that was in front of the house, playing with his friend Evan. Haley was busy inside the house with the laundry.

"Jack, you know my mummy will leave me." "What?"

"My mummy cried yesterday, she hung me, she said sorry to leave me with my daddy." "Why?"

"I don't know, my mummy said it's grow-up thing. You think she will still love me?"

"I don't know, my daddy left, but he told me he would always love me. My daddy loves me, even I can not see him often, so I think your mummy loves you."

"Do you miss your daddy?"

"Yeah. My daddy is busy to catch the bad guys, he is a hero, and I want to be a hero, just like my daddy when I grow up."

"Hi! Jacky boy, you are like a little "G-man", a stranger appeared, he was smiling to him,

"Hi! " Jack looked at the man, "Who are you?" confused,

" I' m George, your daddy's friend, your daddy asked me to give you this, I think it's a birthday gift. Happy Birthday, jacky boy!" without waiting for an answer, the man turned around and left.

"Look, I tell you my daddy loves me, you give the birthday gift, I will show it to my mummy. Mummy! Mummy!" Jack run into the house.

" Jack, what is it?" Haley looked at her son. "Look, mummy, daddy sent me a gift."

"Is your daddy here?" Haley looked through the window,

" No, his friend gave it to me, he said that is daddy' gift for my birthday." "Is daddy here?"

"Why your daddy didn't..." Haley stopped, "It's wonderful, go to play with Even, we will call your

daddy later okay?'

"Yeah." Jack run out of the house, Haley thought she would call Aaron to ask about the gift.

Page 2 of 2 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	7. Chapter 7

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

Rossi just entered into his office, Strauss appeared in the door. It was not a surprise for Rossi.

"So, you came back from the hospital, how is he? Maybe I should ask how are they? BAU has two agents down."

"Reid's right leg's knee was broken, he will live with crutch for a while. And Hotch," he stopped for one second," he's out of the surgery, the doctor said, he lost a lot of blood, but the injuries are not life threatening, he will make a full recovery. But he will be still in unconsciousness for a while."

"How is the team reacting?"

"What do you think, one man had a car accident, and the leader was attacked at his own place by the evil."

"That's what I'm worried."

"Of what?"

"I'm worried that the whole team is affected,"

"Of course we are affected."

"And the team is overwhelmed by the frustration, no longer effective."

"Erin, it was less than 24 hours after we came back from the hell pig farm, and followed by the evil who hit at home, what do you expect?"

"I understand your frustration, I really do, but we still have to do our job, that's why I come down. I'm giving you the direct order that you have to lead the team from now as acting chief, you have to gather them together to continue the normal routine job. The team should not be distracted, there will be another unit which will work together with the local police on Foyet's case."

"But that's our case, our own man was attacked, it's Hotch's case, and we have worked on Foyet's case before, and we caught him once."

"Yes, that's true, but now, the whole team has emotionally involved into Foyet's case, it is not appropriate to let you in, worked on Foyet's case. That's all I want to say. Please Dave, gather the team, and start working." Strauss left without waiting for Rossi's answer.

Four of them sitting there about half of an hour, but nobody said anything. Morgan paced anxiously the bullpen, anger, humiliation, defeat; he could not express what exactly in his mind. The police locked him down as a suspect during two hours; he could not even company Hotch to the hospital.

"DMD!" he opened up, broke the silence.

"Morgan, you have to calm down." Rossi said,

" How could I calm down, this son of BCH..."

" You have to, we have two men down, now the anger and the frustration can not help us out. The last thing we should not do is let the anger and frustration overwhelm us, lost our focus, our mind and let Foyet win. Now, just sit down, and let's think and talk."

"But Strauss gave clear message that we can not involve into Ho... I mean Foyet's case, she said clearly now, we have to handle the other cases as routine job until the further instruction." JJ said.

" I know, and we have the job to do also. JJ, did you choose the case we will work on?" Rossi asked.

" Strauss said she could understand what we have been through this week, and how we are feeling now, she said maybe we can stay in the office for the next couple of days to make some paper analysis to help the local police, so I choose one cold case of three years ago, an unsub harmed seven people in the different movie houses on watching the horror movies."

" No killing, nobody dead, just harm?"

"Yes, he just cut people on the back with eh... eh with a knife." JJ seems to be very difficult to pronounce the word" Knife", and the police thought that he did not want to kill but to harm and make panic, and then three years ago, he stopped and vanished."

" Okay, let's start it."

"JJ, turn on the news." Gacia jumped in.

JJ turned on the TV, on the screen, there was a picture of Hotch, lying in his own blood pool,

"FBI BAU unit chief, supervisor special agent Aarron Hotchner was attacked out of duty in his own home, he was shot and then stabbed 9 times, he is now in critical condition. According to the reliable internal source, the Boston Reaper, George Foyet who escaped magically from the custody of a federal prison months before, is back now for revenge, he is considered as the major suspect of Agent Hotchner's attacker. "

"The Police Officer also found in the crime scene a FBI credential belonged to another FBI agent, supervisor special agent, Derek Morgan, who had been attacked by Foyet during one operation, and lost his credential and never found again, even after Foyet was in custody. That is not the whole tragedy. The formal reporter of Boston, who was also the writer of Foyet's biography "Night of the Reaper" was also stabbed to death after he sent Foyet' attack news and pictures by e-mail to his editor. Foyet left his mask at Roy's home. Till now, FBI and police still have no trace of Foyet." Followed the picture of Roy's dead body, Foyet's evil smile occupies the whole TV screen.

"You son of BCH." Derek punched the table.

"Obviously he was the reliable internal source, he directed the whole show. He is a self-made superstar now." Rossi said.

" He said he would become more famous than we could ever imagine." Prentiss said.

"We will get him." Rossi turn off the TV. "JJ, we have to run a press conference."

In front of the federal building, the press conference was held. JJ looked at the crowed, really hated the attention of the media, they were just like the hungry animals crowed waiting there, and prepared in any second to jump on a piece of bloody fresh meat you threw to them.

"They are all here to seek the bloody and creepy the story, everyone wants make the bloody and creepy story of him own. They never thought how they would be if one day they became the centric victim of horrible crime." Morgan said.

"Are you sure you can do this?" Rossi asked Morgan,

" Yes, I have to. Because he told people he defeat two FBI agents and he wants to show to the public how powerless incapable we are as FBI agents, and gave the ultimate impression that he is invincible. I don't care that people think how embarrassed I am, I have to stand there, not to face to the public but face to him through the television, and tell him, yes, you did have successfully attacked us, but in the end, we will get you, and put you in justice."

Page 5 of 5 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	8. Chapter 8

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

Reid was sitting there for a while; his right broken knee was wrapped up with plaster splint, his crutch beside the chair. He looked at the man lying on the bed, his face was intact, if without the heart monitor, the IV tubes, Hotch looked like just sleeping, a deep, peaceful sleeping. 3 hours out of surgery. He's still in unconscious.

Reid didn't reach Hotch's place because of the car accident. Fortunately, except his right leg knee was broken, he did not get any other serious injury. Looked at his boss, he blamed himself that he could not provide any backup or help when his boss needed. Now, with his broken knee and the crutch, all he could do was sitting in front of his boss's sick bed.

Reid watched the TV news, the image of Hotch lied down lifeless in his own blood pool, one shot, 9 stabs made him sick, but one thing bothered him, why Foyet did not kill him, he had perfect chance, perfect time, if he wanted to finished Hotch, Hotch was already dead. Reid can not get a clue even with his high IQ.

He tried to imagine the scene, the scene that Hotch was attacked and tortured. What was the reaction of Hotch when he saw the evil showed up in his own place, how he has been through all these tortures, 9 stabs after the first shot, did he stared at Foyet, looked into his evil eyes when he was stabbing him each time. Reid was sure of one thing, that Hotch was never a blinker whatever situation he's facing.

But facing the evil, what was his thinking, stood so closed with the death. Maybe he could never know, nobody could imagine what Hotch had really endured there. Behind that serious, emotionless face, behind that strong, brave looking of Hotch, there was also a strong and brave heart beating, but for the people who knew him, there was so much kindness, so much care and compassion in this brave heart, for the innocent people and for his team. And his boss never failed him when he needed him. But he failed his boss when he needed him.

The doctor entered into the room, checked on Hotch.

"I think he will wake up soon, no need to worry." He told Reid,

"Good, thank you Doctor. I think I'd better call my team."

" I can do it for you if you want." The doctor glanced at Reid's broken leg."

"I'm fine, with the crutch, I can go wherever I want. Can I use your phone, I' m not allowed to use the cell here."

"Of course, come with me." Reid took his crutch, followed the doctor out of Hotch's room.

The true reason for Reid was that he did not feel very comfortable to face Hotch alone when he woke up. He knew Hotch would never want to show his vulnerable side, whatever it was his physical pain or psychological frustration, he only wanted to show to his people his strong side as a team leader, he would hate to be weak in front of his team. Reid needs Rossi to be here, to be here with Hotch; maybe Rossi is the only one in the team who had rare occasion to see another side of Hotch.

"It's Reid, he's waking up. I will go to the hospital," Rossi said, he looked at the team; all of them stared on him. "I mean we will go to the hospital. JJ, did you call Haley?"

"I will call her." JJ picked up her cell.

Six of them entered into the room, all of them were in silence for a while. Nobody asked Hotch how he felt. For all of them, the question like this was a humiliation not only for Hotch, but for all of them.

Rossi started, " We will get him, soon or later." Hotch did not say any thing, just nodded silently. " I...I..." Hotch felt his throat dry, he took a breath before he continued, his voice obviously lower than usual, lack of the strength he always had even with low controlled voice. "I don't understand why he kept me alive."

"We will figure it out." Rossid said.

" We have to... we have to move fast, before, before…" he make another pause..." the deep concern appeared on his face, who would be the next that the Reaper would go after him, Morgan, or...

"Rossi, the reporter, Roy..."

"It is too late, he killed him."

Sadly, Hotch closed his eyes,

" Hotch, you know, we can not predicate it, we can not prevent it, just like what happened to you."

"I know."

"He planned the whole game, first you, then he went to Roy, forced him to write down the story and sent to the editor, then killed him."

" Morgan, you have to take precaution." Hotch looked at Morgan,

" Don't worry about me, Hotch, I'm waiting for the son of bitch..."

"Morgan..."

"Hotch," Rossi stopped him, " I will take care of this." Hotch nodded.

"He left Morgan's credential, what did he take, I mean, from my place."

"We don't know, the police did not report anything missing, or it's hard to say, before you can go home to check it out."

" Hi!" Haley appeared in the door with Jack, she looked a little bit uncomfortable with the crowed in the room.

"Daddy!" Jack looked at his dad, seemed a little bit scared.

"Hi! Buddy, come here, give me a kiss." Jack approached to the bed, kissed his dad on his cheek. "Are you okay?" Everyone could see the little boy's concern. Haley immediately regretted that she brought him in.

" I'm okay, don't worry, it's not a big deal. I'm fine. I'll be out of here in a couple of days."

"That's why you could not come to give me your birthday gift by yourself." Jack said.

"What are you talking about, Buddy?"

"This, the gift you friend George gave it to me." Jack showed the box of solder figures to Hotch,

"Thank you daddy, I like them."

Hotch's face changes, suddenly he felt the difficulty to breath, his heart beat rising. Rossi and the other agents were leaving, in order to give some privacy to Hotch and his ex-wife and kid, they all stopped after heard what Jack said, Rossi bent to Jack,

" Jack, tell me, when George gave you this?"

"After lunch." "Rossi took out Foyet's picture from his file, is this man you talked to, is it George?"

"Yes. Is George your friend daddy?"

"No Buddy, George is a very bad guy, he stole the gift I bought for you from my place."

" I'm sorry, Daddy, I shouldn't talk to the bad guy."

" It's okay, Jack, it's not your fault, you don't know he is a bad guy, and now you know."

"JJ, call US marshall." Rossi said to JJ.

" I am already on it."

"Haley, I'm sorry, you can not go home from now."

" What? I don't understand." Haley looked at Rossi, confused.

"Dave, would you please let us to talk a few minutes?"

" Sure, let's give you guys some privacy." Reid called Jack,

" Jack, would you come with me, I'm a magician? I will show you some magic."

"Yeah."

After the others left the room, Hotch took a deep breath, cleaned his throat, " I' m very sorry, Haley, I jeopardize you and Jack's safety. That's linked to the case I worked on, the man who gave Jack my gift is the Boston reaper who stabbed me in my place."

"Oh, my God," Haley hold her mouth with her hands, her eyes filled with terror.

" He sent the gift as a message to me, to tell me my family's life is under his control, I think that's why he didn't kill me, he could kill me in my place, but he kept me alive to see me suffer, let me live everyday wondering if I risk to losing my only son every moment."

" What would I do?" Haley 's voice was shaking.

" I think Rossi and JJ will help arrange a protect custody for you and Jack, now you have to stay here with Jack, waiting the US marshal to transfer you to a safe house."

" But I need to go home to pack."

" No, you can't, it is not safe. Haley, I'm sorry." His voice filled of guilty.

" We can not just go like this, vanished, I have to tell my parents, my sister, my…"

" No, Haley, you can't, if you make phone calls, he can track you."

" My God."

"I'm sorry. Haley!"

" Aaron, there is one thing I want you to know, actually…actually, I'm, I'm seeing someone."

She did not look at him, and saying it with a very low voice. She felt guilty, now it was really not the right moment that she revealed the news.

" I know." He said calmly. She was shocked.

" I…I …I just… I just figure out. Listen, Haley, you are doing nothing wrong, you deserve a better life, I'm very sorry that I did not make you happy as I promised."

"Aaron, listen, you did, you did make me very happy before, for a long time, " she smiled with bitterness,

"Just, you love more your job, you are obsessed by the chasing, chasing the bad guys, pursuing for justice, but when you put one bad guy behind the bar, there is another one and another one, in this world, there are so many of them out there, and I, I just need my husband with me and my son for a peaceful life, I can not spend the days and night to wait for you home, and worry about you, to see you like this, I'm sorry, I just can not take it anymore," Her tears were falling down from her cheek.

" I understand, I'm sorry." Hotch felt his eyes were wet. " I am really sorry to put you through all of these. I didn't…" his heart beat suddenly accelerated, he was exhausted, the conversation took from him all his strength and energy. He gasped, the heart monitor alarm started ringing.

The doctor rushed in to check on him. " Madame, the visit is over, do you mind to go outside?" "Okay, Doctor, take care of him, please!" Haley wept and went out of the room.

Page 7 of 7 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	9. Chapter 9

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

They were sitting in the bullpen; the victims' pictures are on the screen. "Seven victims in one month, all were young male, between 20 to 30. "JJ said.

"Did they know each other?"

" No, they were not connected to each other."

"What's the other similarity of the 7 victims."

"They had nothing in common."

"Different social class, different races, except they were all young male, maybe one, they were all with their girlfriends seeing the horror movies when they were stabbed."

JJ showed the pictures,

"All the stabs were on the victims' back, according to the police's record, the cut were all made by small knife, no life threatening injury."

"Why three years, nobody took care of these cases?"

" Because compared to the homicide, the victims were only suffered minor injury, not big damages, the police even said that the only damage was for the horror movies, they sold less ticket and got less audience."

"That's what they said?"

"Yes, that's exactly what they said? Since three years, that sort of case had never happened again, they even think the FBI involvement is overqualified, totally a waste. One detective asked me: "Why you guys can not pick some big serious killers but take this prank?"

"And why you picked this one, JJ?" Rossi asked, at fact, he did not expect an answer,

" I don't know, maybe because of the stab, maybe I was thinking that we needed some time to... to take care of Hotch."

"Anyway, let's do this, even these are small cases, but still our job to catch the people who were responsible for. We split into two groups to interview the victims, and Reid, you will go back to the hospital with your crutch and stay tight with Hotch."

" Yes, Sir."

"Kyle was an attractive man at his early thirties. He seemed quite embarrassed by Morgan and Prentiss' interview.

" I think that the case has been already dropped down, nobody cares, already three years. We moved on too."

"Do you still remember what had happened that day?"

Kyle answered with a bitter smile. " Of course, a quite experience in my life, even three years passed, for me, sometimes, it seemed it was happened yesterday. "

"But you just said you move on."

The bitter smile appeared again on the man's face,

"Yes, I move on, but this incidence did change my life, after that happened, my girlfriend left me, it seems I was a weak figure for her."

"We are sorry."

"That's okay. That's life, you never know, sometimes, we were just at the wrong place, at the wrong time, with wrong person, and then you had to live with the consequences. That happened."

"That's the famous dead walking movie, I was never a big fan of horror movie, but my ex-girl friend was. Quite weird, right? That did not mean she was not scared. I remember when the scene when the dead made a fatal attack; my ex-girlfriend screamed and then tried to hide in my arms, that was when the moment the attack happened. I was also shocked by the scene, suddenly a terrible pain on my back, like we were watch a 3D movie, the dead attacked me on my back, I screamed out loudly, that scared hell out of y ex-girlfriend."

" So the people on your back row attacked you?"

" I think so. But at that time nobody realized I was stabbed, they all thought I was frightened by the horror scene, even myself, it didn't seem real. And I felt the pain, I realized somebody attacked me, I stood up, turned around, but it was dark, and the people sitting behind yelled to me, asked me to sit down, I went out with my ex-girlfriend, I touched my back, and I saw my blood on my hand. And I called police. They did not take it seriously, they even thought it's funny"

"Did you notice anything unusual?" "No, just I heard several people laughing, I thought they were laughing at me."

They all gathered in the bullpen.

"Okay, let's see what we got here," Rossi took out his black notebook.

"We have Kevin, now 34, a salesman, he was attacked when he was with his newly dating girlfriend, a horror movie for dating, quite romantic. It was the girl asked to see the horror movie. Why? I don't understand the girls." Rossi said.

"You don't know? Because there are a lot of opportunities for the girls to put themselves into their boyfriends' arms." Prentiss said,

Rossi continue, "The stab was happened exactly at the moment that so call most horrible scene appeared on the screen,"

"The same for the other attacks." Morgan said. "And then he screamed, people laughed at him..."

"Steve, 31 years old, with his girlfriend, he was stabbed when his girlfriend was screaming with the horrible scene and then he screamed loudly too because of the pain. People laughed at him, even his girlfriend stopped screaming." JJ said.

"I assume both of their girlfriend left them after the stab?" Morgan asked,

"No, there was one happy ending, months later after the event, Steve married his girlfriend, because both of them realized how closed they could be with the death, that's made them to get marry very fast and now they have one baby girl." JJ said.

"Oh, that's a relief. Because all the other love stories did not last, seemed all have been cut off by the knife."

"We just discovered the pattern, "Rossi said,

"What? They all ended up their relationship?" Morgan asked,

"No. When they screamed, always some people laughed, they thought people laughed at them because people considered them weak and coward. But maybe these people who laughed were our guys, they laughed because they were really enjoying their prank. Rossi said,

"So we are looking not one unsub, but several, probably teenagers above 18."

"If the local did not take the case seriously by chasing them, why they stopped?"

"Gacia, would you check all the incidents happened after the last attacked, the teenagers above 18 who had accidents, or jail..."

"I'm on it."

"Ryan, open up, it's the FBI."

The door was half opened, Ryan's face appeared.

"Ryan, Derek Morgan and Emily Prentiss, we are with the FBI, we would like to talk with you, can we come in."

"Yes." Ryan opened the door, not one hundred percent willing.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"About your friend's death."

"Eric, it's been already 3 years. I think the case was closed." "It was, but there is another case not closed."

"Which case, I know nothing." "You reported to the police that, at that evening you and your friends were walking out of a movie house, when some street gang boys stopped you three and asked for money, Eric was high, argued with them, and he was stabbed, you and Joe run away. From which movie house you three walked out?"

"I don't remember."

"Try harder."

"What is it about?"

"You know very well Ryan. The horror movie attack case has not been closed. In the forensic report, the police found there was another blood which did not match Eric's DNA, neither matched the DNA of Eric's attacker, and now we found that blood belonged to one of the horror movie attack victims, actually it belonged to your crew's last victim."

Ryan cried out, " I know, one day this will come to my door. Eric was stabbed to death at that evening, Joe ended up overdose. It is KAMA. It was just a teenager's prank. We did not mean to kill, we just wanted to make some fun on making the boys yelling, watching them embarrassed in front of their girlfriends.

"You made fun on harming people, made them suffer physically and mentally, and now you have to pay for that." Prentiss said.

Page 7 of 7 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	10. Chapter 10

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

He was running in the dark street, then in the woods, gun in his hand, he chasing someone; he heard the gunshot and the explosion. Suddenly Elle came to him, her hand held her chest, there was a gun shot wound, she looked at him, very upset,

" You sent me home, you supposed to watch my back, and you let me hurt."

"Elle, it's not supposed to be happened." But she turned around and vanished.

And then Kate appeared from nowhere, just lied down in front of him, whole body covered by the blood,

"Aaron, I feel cold, is that cliché, I feel cold just like in the cinema."

"Kate, Kate stay with me." He yelled. Then he heard,

"Daddy, help, help me, daddy!" He saw Jack, surrounded by dozen of hug, dirty pigs.

He was crying, his eyes full of fear, "Daddy! Daddy! Help me!"

"Jack! Jack! Hold on there, Daddy's coming. " He shouted, but he could not make a sound. Then he saw Haley running to Jack very slowly like a movie scene, she could not reach Jack, she's crying desperately,

"Jack, Jack, my baby!" She turned around, looked at him, her eyes filled of sadness and desperation, "Aaron, help, why don't you help, save our baby, why you put our baby in danger, he's your only son..." "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." he cried out.

"Hotch, Hotch."

Hotch woke up. Reid's looked at him, " Hi! Hotch, are you okay?" Reid asked, his eyes showed the concern. He probably screamed in his dream, he found his cheek was wet, he cried in his dream.

"I'm fine." He hated himself to show the vulnerability in front of his subordinate.

"Reid, you shouldn't stay with me here, you should have a rest, you were injured too."

"All because I'm a lousy driver. Don't worry about me, I'm fine too, I just get up from bed. The

doctor passed, he checked on you, said everything will be fine."

"What about your leg? Are you in pain? You will make a full recovery?"

"I hope so, but the doctor told me I would probably walk with the clutch for a while. At least, I 'm a lucky guy, it is my leg, not my head, and my brain is intact."

'What time is it? I mean...how long since...? I'm a little bit lost."

"It's been already 26 hours 40 minutes after you were out of surgery."

"So Jack and Haley, they left ?

"They left yesterday evening with the US Marshall." Hotch nodded.

Hotch looked around the room, tried to catch up the time he lost. The room seemed different with yesterday, something more, some flowers, cards even toys were putting on the small table in the corner.

Reid followed Hotch's look, he knew that Hotch did not feel very comfortable with the people's attention, which dropped down with flowers and cards,

"The nurses brought them here, I assume that these are from the other colleagues of the Bureau, but I do know that Gacia brought you a Teddy Bear." Hotch tried to squeeze a smile.

His attention was drove by a very big basket of white roses, white roses are Haley's favorable flowers, and they were also their wedding flowers. Suddenly he had a stranger feeling

"Reid,"

"Yeah,"

"Could you pass me the card in that basket of white roses?"

"Excuse me?"

"I want to have a look at the card of the white roses, who sent this?"

" I don't know, this morning, when I came into your room, it was already there, wait, I will take the card for you, just one second."

"Sorry," Hotch said, on looking Reid walking with one leg and his crutch,

" It's okay, I got it." Reid picked the card envelop which was put in the middle of the white roses and handed it to Hotch,

Hotch opened the envelop, a white card dropped out,

"Wish you a full recovery!" Only one sentence with an eye of prophet as a bloody signature. Hotch's face turned more pale.

"Reid, ask the nurse who sent it in, and call Rossi."

Page 3 of 3 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	11. Chapter 11

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

"They didn't find the trace, didn't they?" Hotch looked at Rossi, asked, " No, they checked everything, questioned everyone, the flower shop, the delivery service, all lead to the dead end, nobody recalled having seen him before."

"It's not a surprise, he sent the flowers and card not for making our job easier, he wants to tell me that he knows everything about me, everything about my life, and I do not know so much about him, and we can not track him down even with so much fingerprint he left behind."

Rossi stood in front of Hotch''s bed, "He planned all these, one episode after another, he can monitor from distance to continue his psychological torture on you, and he wants eventually see you falling apart at the end."

"I know." Hotch said calmly,

"What else do you know?" Rossi stared at Hotch,

"What do you mean? Dave."

"Would you guys mind to take a cup of coffee outside, and let us to stay alone for a moment?" Rossi turned around, looked at the other agents,

"Of course, of course." Prentiss and Morgan exchanged glances,

Reid looked like a little bit confused,

"Spence, take you crutches, I will buy you a coffee." JJ said to Reid, she didn't understand why sometimes the genius was quite slow than normal people.

Rossi opened up till all of them left the room,

"Don't you think that we should know more details?"

"What details? I don't understand."

"Aaron, I know physically you are in pain, "

" I'm fine."

"I know, Haley and Jack have been taken away from you , that breaks you heart, but I hate to say this, besides all these, is there anything else bothers you?"

"Dave, please, profile me is the last thing I need now."

"I know Aaron, but what is it? You are holding something, I can tell, is it about Foyet's attack, because till now, we didn't hear any detail from you. And you told the local police and the other agents that you did not remember what have been exactly happened during that attack."

Hotch lowed down his look, "Yeah, I can not recall everything after he stabbed me."

Rossi approached to Hotch,

" Aaron, I need you to talk to me,"

"About what?"

"From your medical record, we know what he did to you, but we don't know what he exactly said to you during the torture session? I understand what you have borne and what you are going through, but I don't think I have to remind you, the FBI senior agent, the BAU unit chief, as a victim, you do have the obligation to provide all the details of the attack to help catch the unsub. You have to talk." "

Hotch kept silence for a long moment.

"Come on Aaron, you have to talk."

Hotch cleaned his throat, " He said he would not finish with me quickly, he would like to have more fun. He profiled me, I had to say some of his profile has certain accuracy. "

"That's mind game. AAron."

"I know. But the truth is the truth. The truth can hurt and humiliate, but they are still the truth, even the truth was told by the evil, came out from an evil's mouth. Even sometime, you try to ignore it and deny it"

"You know, Dave, he told me that I became me of today because of my father, I did not want to follow my father's step, I wanted to over him, so I choose to pursuit the objective seemed to me more noble than my father's achievement. But at matter of fact, it was my ambition, my desire for the power which drive me into the obsession for the chase, and which lead me to repeat my father's mistake, and became more failure than my father as a husband, loss Haley, and more failure than my father as a father, loss Jack."

"Haley made her choice, and you do not loss Jack."

Hotch smiled with bitterness,

"You know it was Foyet who told me about, about Haley's… He also told me that Jack would forget me very soon."

"He said I wear externally so called solid shell, but the day when the shell was broken, I would never repair it from inside till the outside."

"Don't tell me you will make him satisfied."

Hotch shook his head, and continued,

" I just realized that I fight the devil, but I found on myself some common points with the devil."

"Hold on, Hotch, I think you just found his motive, when he talked about you, it seemed he talked also about part of himself, he probably see the reflection of himself from you. He found, I'm sorry, the similarity of you two, he found on you his match."

"That's important, he is never satisfied with the tortures on his other victims, even with Shaunessey who compromised and took his deal. Aaron, you are not only meaning for him just as another victim of his, it seems that he found you as the one in his life, a perfect rival which he determined to defeat."

"He is invincible." Hotch's eyes were shinning as usual,

"We will defeat him." Rossi said.

Page 5 of 5 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	12. Chapter 12

Subject: CM Fiction Grade level: 6-8

It was not a surprise for all of them. The reply of Agent Hotchner for each evaluation question was unassailable, short, firm, precise.

"Okay, that's all, Agent Hotchner, thank you for your time." The internal affair department agent closed the file, "we are done now," he stopped for a minute, for those who did not have the experience of such session, would think it's really done, session closed, but he did not dismiss Hotch, instead, he cleaned his throat,

" So tell us how are you feeling now? Agent Hotchner." Hotch knew very well that question would be coming again at the end. He involved the establishment of the interview procedure.

" I feel I have full capability, both physical and mental to return to duty."

"Good, that's very good." The agent gave a glance to Strauss, she nodded slightly.

"So it has been one month since Foyet's last attack, since you have been attacked."

"Yes, 30 days."

"Precisely. But since then, nothing happened."

Hotch did not prepare for this. "What do you mean 'nothing happened'?"

"That's Foyet's last attack, no other attack has been occurred after that."

"You think we are waiting too long for new dead bodies coming?"

"It's not what I mean, Agent Hotchner."

"Aaron, let's cut it short," Strauss took over, "the Bureau wants to know did you or did you not be surrendered or compromised to take Foyet's deal during the torture?"

She could see the humiliation, the hurt and the anger mixed on Hotch's face. But the voice was still controlled, emotionless, very calm and firm.

"No, I did not. And I will not."

"Okay, that's all. Welcome back, Agent Hotchner."

"Welcome back, Agent Hotchner."

Hundred miles from Quantico, a man in the dark, sitting in a SUV, smiled to the picture on his cell.

Tod had perfect look like a successful attorney. He was a handsome man in his forties, dark hair, dark eyes, tall, well built body in a perfect cut dark suit with light blue color shirt. He left the car in the garage, instead of entering into the house by the door of the garage, he stepped out of the garage, looked at the second floor bedroom window.

He saw the light, he could picture in his mind, his wife with his 5 years old twin boys on the bed, his boys sleepy, listening their mum reading their favorable bed story.

It was late, already half passed 22:00. As usual, he missed again the family dinner and the bed story. That's the normal schedule of a partner of a prestige law firm. His wife stopped complaint for a while, "Law firm widow." She used to say, "and at least, I feel relief that you are not working for that kind of firm."

They were law school classmates, then colleagues. After his sons were born, and he became the partner of the firm, she quit her job, became a full time housewife.

"Someone has to make the sacrifice for our family, and I think I am more qualified than you to be a good mother at home." She was a beautiful and brilliant woman, with a kind heart. Each time when he expressed his apology to her for dropping down her career for the family, she told him that.

He didn't remember how many times he reminded himself that he was really a lucky man, both in professional life and in personal life.

He stepped into the house, tried to not to make too much noises. If the boys heard he's home, they would immediately jump up from bed. It was quite in the house, a dead silence, and he felt something uncommon, but he could not tell what it exactly was, and then, he smelt sort of difference in the air. He climbed on the second floor, the boys' bed room's door was not closed completely, there was light behind the door, he opened the door, when he stepped in, his whole world collapsed in front of him, he pushed out a scream, people from a mile away could hear his scream, the successful happy man just found, that he lost most precious thing for him to live in the world, his whole family.

The man in the dark, heard from distance the scream, he smiled on looking the picture on his cell, three dead bodies lied on the bed, one blond woman and two boys, covered with blood, the blond woman's hand held a book, "Night of the Reaper". And the eye of prophet looked at the dead bodies on the wall.

He smiled." It's a gift, Agent Hotchner, it's a gift for you, a welcome back gift."

Page 3 of 3 Duration: Two classroom Periods


	13. Chapter 13

The long fine fingers played on the keyboard, as a pianist was playing a masterpiece on the piano. He was playing a masterpiece, and this masterpiece did not belong to somebody else, it was his masterpiece. He had created his theme of this masterpiece long time ago, now, he only needed to find out and add in some magic notes, and he was near to the end of his creation.

Computer, he loved computer, from the first time he toughed a computer, he was attracted by the logic, the accuracy, the efficiency of this device. He thought that this device matched him, as a piano matched a pianist. As a modern day hunter, he went out hunting, and in the daytime, the computer was his only skill for working and live. And this device became his hunting tool and weapon, which helped him to approach his preys without any alert, he could track them as he liked, but they were unable to find his trace, to track him and trap him. The computer was not only the tool and weapon but also an invisible shield that protect him with high efficiency.

He was good hunter, and he was hunting, now on the keyboard, tried to find the trace of his future prey.

The storm in New York made thousands of flights canceled or delayed. In the frustrated and angry mob in the airport hall, Jeffrey was one of the few passengers who still kept calm and had their manners. But he was very upset, just tried not to show it. He already called his wife; she was worried on the phone. The flowers he ordered online should be delivered, the birthday gift was inside his suit pocket, which was a fine gold necklace with the famous script "I love you more than yesterday, less than tomorrow."

Jeffrey wanted to be a good man, most import, a good husband, a good father. And he was a good lawyer. After law school, instead of stepping into his father's law firm, he took a job offer from a small agency, worked as pro-bono lawyer till the day he won a case of group consumer complaint against a giant company, he did not only win the case, he also won his reputation and most importantly his father's respect. He accepted his father's offer, joint his father's firm, and made himself a partner after 5 years. He married his wife, had a son and a daughter, for him, life was just perfect.

Thousands miles from New York, under the curtain of night, a black sedan was parked silently in front of Jeffrey's house. The driver was sitting inside the car; he was waiting, waiting for the perfect moment to start the killing in this house, which was decorated with flowers.

"Prentiss, would you please come to my office?"

"Ok!" Prentiss put down the phone, stood up. She went up stairs, knocked on the door of Hotch's office.

"Come in."

"What's up? Hotch."

"Have a sit."

"Listen, Prentiss, I really appreciate your concern, but I am asking you to stop doing that."

"Doing what? Hotch, I don't understand."

"Do you think I know nothing about you are doing now? Asked your mother, used her connection to push the Bureau to provide me the protection details. Look, I really appreciate what you are doing, Prentiss, especially considering how you hate politics. But I need you to stop."

"Hotch…"

"Listen, the Bureau's budget has been cut, I don't think they have resources for that, and compared to the others, I think I am the most safe person here."

"Why do you think so?"

"If he wanted to kill me, I have been already killed. What he wants is to keep me alive me, sent my family away, play mind game to torture me, he doesn't need to walk around me."

"But…"

"No 'But', Prentiss, I want you to stop, promise me. The last thing I want is all of you play my babysitters, worry about me. I want all of you focus on the cases. Do I make my point clear."

"Crystal clear, Sir."

"Good! Thank you! Prentiss."

Hotch looked Prentiss left his office, and his phone rang.


	14. Chapter 14

Three innocent lives, a young woman, two twin boys, they were at the same age as Jack, were slaughtered, because of him! Looked at the pictures on the screen, Hotch's stoma twisted; he felt nauseas.

"Sorry!" He said, and then stood up, on ignoring the concern in his team members eyes, he went out of bullpen.

He heard the person after him, it was Rossi, and he already knew what Dave was going to tell him.

"It is not your fault, Aaron."

"Yes, you said that last time."

"And I say it again. IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT! Aaron."

"I heard you, but, Rossi, I'm afraid it is. And it is always because of me, you know that, everyone knows, because I refused to take his deal."

"He is a monster, we don't deal with monsters, as we don't deal with terrorists. You have made the right choice, you know that."

"And the killing never stop."

"Until the day we catch him."

"Yes, but before we can get him, we just count the bodies. Rossi, these kids, they are the same age kids as Jack, I feel I have their blood in my hands."

"So what you gonna to do, left your team in the bullpen, sit alone here to blame yourself? That's the best thing you can do? Aaron. That's what he wants, he uses your sense of guilt to torture you, he wants you break down, and you know what, you are just give him the satisfaction."

Hotch didn't say nothing, he closed his eyes for several seconds, tried to get these images out of his mind, he put his hand on his forehead, took a deep breath.

Someone knocked the door,

"Come in!" Hotch seemed recovered from his emotion,

"Sorry, Hotch, Rossi" JJ entered into his office,

"The victims family, the father is here."

"OK, I am coming." Hotch said.

"No, I go, Hotch, I go with JJ."

Jeffrey didn't eat; he didn't sleep; refused to talk to anyone. After he came out of the police station, he could not enter into his house, he was just sitting on the banc of the public garden in front of his house, staring at the place where his wife played with his babies. There was only one question he kept asking himself.

"Why?"

－－

"Reaper returned, Reaper's bloody revenge on innocent people, massacred two families, only two fathers of the families survived!"

Reid tried to hide the newspaper in his hands when Hotch came in. But he was not fast enough.

"Reid, it is not necessary, I already read it." Hotch said,

"Hey, Hotch, the police informed us that the father of the second victim's family was reported missing. Nobody saw him after the police interviewed him."

"Kidnapped?" Reid asked.

"I don't think so! The Reaper wants to keep him alive, he's not the target." Hotch answered.

"Committed suicide?" Morgan said,

"Possible." Prentiss said, "There is nothing in the world for him to live for."

"They didn't find the body neither." JJ said.

After a long day, Hotch finally back home. The first thing he did was to take off his tie and suit, and put on sweater and snickers. After he recovered, Hotch restarted jogging, 30 minutes everyday as his routine exercises.

He left his department, started running, it was late, the darkness was just falling down the street.

After about one mile, his sweater was totally wet, but Hotch did not take a break, and his mind was still on the case, he did not know a car was following him slowly 30 meters away behind him from the beginning.


End file.
